Hay, straw, and other agricultural products are commonly used as forage for feeding livestock and other animals. Since shorter fibers of hay are easier for cattle and other animals to eat and digest than longer strands, it is desirable to process hay, either in loose form or packaged in bales, prior to feeding. In prior art hammer mill devices, such as one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,126 to Alvarez, hay is dropped into a circular chamber, in which a number of "hammers," or flat-edged blades, are attached to and evenly-spaced about a rapidly spinning axle. The spinning axle causes the hammer blades to smash into the strands of hay, breaking them into smaller sections.
Since the hammer blades must spin very rapidly in order to break the material into smaller pieces, there is little control over uniformity in the sizes of the resultant pieces, and the process is inefficient due to the large amount of energy that must be expended to spin the hammer blades to suitable speeds. Additionally, since flat-edged blades are used, the area where the material is struck is essentially pulverized rather than cut, as would be the case with a sharpened blade. This pulverizing action, in conjunction with the rapidly spinning hammer blades, creates and stirs up a large amount of dust. In addition to creating possible Occupational Safety and Health violations, the dust represents wasted material that would otherwise be fed to animals.
In consideration of the limitations and disadvantages of the devices and methods currently in use, it should be apparent that an effective solution to the problem of cutting material such as hay is needed. Accordingly, the present invention was developed, and provides significant advantages over previous devices or methods to contain compressed materials.